Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Srivalli announced 'Kashmiri Dum Aloo' as this month's theme for the Indian Cooking Challenge and I am glad to try it at the last moment. For the past one week, my schedule was hectic and in fact, I started cooking this after I saw Srivalli's post today in my mail. :) She chose this recipe that happens to be 'satvik' - garlic and onion free.
'Dum pukth' or simply 'dum' is a slow cooking method, a concept borrowed from Mughlai cuisine. The basic idea is to slowly simmer the contents in a sealed pot so that the food is cooked in it's own juices and the flavors are not allowed to escape through steam. The pot is sealed with dough, made with flour and water. To get an idea about dum cooking, check here. I used my saucepan since I don't have access to an authentic dum style cooking pot.

Method:* Peel the potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Place them in a bowl of cold water and leave it aside for 10 - 15 minutes. 1/2 tsp salt can be added to that water.* In the mean while, whisk the yogurt. Add the ground spices & salt to it and mix well.* Mix the flour and water in a bowl and make firm dough. Keep it covered.*Heat the oil in a deep sauté pan or a kadai and fry the whole potatoes on medium flame till they turn golden brown through out. Drain them on absorbent towels. Add these potatoes to the yogurt - spice mixture. * Heat 1 tsp of oil in a saute pan and add the grated ginger and cumin seeds. When the ginger turns golden brown, add the asafoetida. Then add about 1/4 cup of hot water and the yogurt - potato mixture to the pan.

* Cover with a lid and seal the edges with the dough.

* Cook it on low flame for 15 minutes and then remove the flour seal. Add the garam masala and mix well. Again cover the lid and let it simmer for 5 minutes more.

Mine was served with rotis.

Verdict: This version does not contain onion and tomatoes as mentioned earlier and so the spices over power this dish to an extent, I think. I don't favor spices that much in a dish and so my opinion may be prejudiced.

We are an organisation publishing travel guides, presently we are working on a Jammu and Kashmir project for which we are looking for some good photos of Cuisines. With reference to your blog, we wish to use the dum aloo photo for our project. Kindly give us the permission. We will publish your name in our editorial page.